The disclosures herein relate generally to docking alignment or guidance in a portable computer system and more particularly to providing an alignment tray and computer base features which cooperate to facilitate proper alignment of a portable computer with a docking station or port replicator for interconnection.
Port replicators and docking stations are docking devices which attach to the back of a portable notebook computer via a single docking connector. Docking devices have several other connectors which remain connected to various cables, e.g. printer, power, video, etc. In this manner, a notebook computer can pass standard I/O signals to peripheral devices via the docking device without the need to make all of the cable connections directly to the notebook computer. Thus, the user of the notebook computer can quickly engage and disengage the notebook computer from the docking device.
There are various methods of interconnecting notebook computers with port replicators and docking stations. Some models merely plug in. Others include mechanical alignment features adjacent the docking station's docking connector and the computer's mating connector to provide fine alignment between the connectors prior to completing the plug connection. All of the interconnection methods require the user to put the notebook computer's docking connector in some level of alignment with the port replicator or docking station as a first step in making the interconnection, defeating to some extent the purpose of the docking station of making it quick and easy to engage and disengage the notebook computer from a group of peripherals.
Docking trays having upright sidewalls spaced to closely retain the upright sidewalls of a notebook computer have been used to assist the user in aligning the docking connectors. This approach requires that each notebook computer have a specifically designed docking tray, and require the user to carefully position the chassis in the tray before mating the computer and docking station connectors. To enable a docking station and docking tray to be used with various sizes of notebooks, and for backward and forward compatibility of notebooks and docking trays, trays having moveable or replaceable sidewalls have been proposed. These add yet another step to the process of docking a particular notebook computer again detracting from the goal of providing quick and easy engagement of the notebook computer with peripherals. In addition, adjustable sidewalls require that the customer fix the sidewalls in the proper position for the docking connector on the notebook computer to properly align with the connector on the docking station or port replicator. Misalignment can make it difficult to make the required connection and can cause damage to the electronic connectors. In addition, this approach increases the number of parts and mechanical complexity and durability, as well as manufacturing costs of such docking trays.
Technology updates also require manufacturers to reconfigure chassis and connectors. Minimizing the complexity and number of design changes in chassis and docking trays is important for manufacturing cost efficiency. Small tolerances in manufactured parts lead to higher costs. However, the cumulative effect of parts produced near the tolerance limits can lead to a misfit between a particular mass-produced alignment tray and a particular mass-produced computer chassis. That misfit can lead to a portable computer that is not stable when connected to its docking station or, at worst, cannot be connected because the connectors cannot be aligned.
Consumers also want and need to be able to very easily, quickly, and reliably connect their portable computers to their docking stations in such a way that the docked computer is stable and without mechanically stressing the electrical connectors.
Accordingly, what is needed is a docking alignment system that quickly and easily guides the portable computer into alignment for mechanical and electrical connection with a docking station or port replicator, which can accommodate a wide variety of computer chassis designs without any user adjustment of the parts of the system and which does not require close manufacturing tolerances.